http://raquelbilliones.healtheva.com Updates on Medicine and the Pharmaceutical Industry Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:20:54 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In one of my other blogs, I posted a review of a study on the relationship between a woman's aging uterus and the incidence of C-sections. Briefly, I summarise: The older women are during their first pregnancy, the higher are the chances of having a Caesarean delivery due to impaired uterine ... http://raquelbilliones.healtheva.com/2008/07/25/taking-healthcare-and-insurance-coverage-for-granted/ Sleep (or lack thereof) has long-lasting effects on our health. Recent studies show some gender differences in sleeping patterns and health outcomes. Females who are poor sleepers have increased risks for cardiovascular disease than males exhibiting similar sleeping patterns. "Self-reported ratings of sleep quality and symptoms of poor sleep have been linked ... http://raquelbilliones.healtheva.com/2008/06/23/sleep-health-risks-and-gender/ Currently it's the financial industry that is in trouble. Will the pharmaceutical industry be next? This could well be according to business analysts, in a recent report in the Financial Times. "For the first time in history, the industry will have negative growth in 2011" according to Alexis de Rosnay, global co-head of healthcare ... http://raquelbilliones.healtheva.com/2008/05/31/tough-times-ahead-for-big-pharma/ Two video clips of two Starr-Edwards artificial valves can be seen in action in this week’s online issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The video was taken by doctors at the Montreal Heart Institute in Quebec during a cardiac catheterization procedure of a 67-year old woman. What is ... http://raquelbilliones.healtheva.com/2008/05/28/decades-old-artificial-heart-valves-still-going-strong/ Time was when pleuripotent stem cells were supposedly only available from human embryos which led to heated debates on ethics and morality. Since then, multipotent stem cells have been isolated from different organs of the human body, be it from the umbilical cord blood, the bone marrow, even from the skin. ... http://raquelbilliones.healtheva.com/2008/05/14/stem-cells-in-the-most-unexpected-places/ More and more evidence are piling up on the health benefits of dark chocolate. Cocoa is rich in flavonoids which have potent antioxidant properties. No wonder that the biggest chocolate manufacturers are scrambling to grab this opportunity to reinvent chocolate from being the number one enemy of weight watchers, diabetics ... http://raquelbilliones.healtheva.com/2008/05/06/reinventing-chocolate-the-dark-and-sweet-side-of-clinical-trials/ Vioxx may be gone from the market but the litigation against Merck rages on and consultants for the plaintiff (Ross et al.) have written an article exposing “guest authors” and “ghost writing” practices in publications concerning rofecoxib (Vioxx). I cringe every time the term “ghost writing” comes up in connection with ... http://raquelbilliones.healtheva.com/2008/04/29/ghosts-of-vioxx-past-medical-writing-under-attack/ The constitution of a small mountain country requires "account to be taken of the dignity of creation when handling animals, plants and other organisms". [1] You`d think that such a constitution must be based on religions such as Buddhism which holds all living creatures sacrosanct from the single-celled to the high ... http://raquelbilliones.healtheva.com/2008/04/23/protecting-the-%e2%80%9cdignity-of-plants%e2%80%9d-and-its-effects-on-swiss-plant-research/ Roche is increasing its stakes in biotechnology research by buying 100% of Piramed, a UK-based biotech company. This small, privately-owned company is the rising star on developing therapies targeting P13 kinase (P13-K) pathway which plays “an important role in disease progression and in resistance to chemotherapeutics in cancer cells.” [1] With ... http://raquelbilliones.healtheva.com/2008/04/17/the-acquisitions-continue-roche-buys-piramed/ Sunshine is the major source of vitamin D, an essential vitamin synthesized by skin exposure to sunlight. So how can vitamin D deficiency be a global problem? Below is a review of recent research on the benefits of vitamin D and possible causes of its deficiency. Vitamin D and Alzheimer’s disease ... http://raquelbilliones.healtheva.com/2008/04/08/sunny-treatment-for-diseases-updates-on-vitamin-d-deficiency-and-sufficiency/